Fitness Meal Prep Service

The shortcut: Athletes don't pay $15 a meal for "healthy" — they pay for accurate macros on the label. Get the protein number right within 2 grams, partner with one local gym in month one, and you skip the year-long grind that kills most general meal-prep brands.

Industry: Fitness & Sports | Investment level: Small — $5,000-$15,000 | Time to launch: 6-10 weeks (ServSafe + commissary onboarding + first gym partner + 10 paid clients) Best for: Anyone who can prep 80-150 macro-portioned meals in a 6-8 hour Sunday at a commissary, owns a kitchen scale, and is willing to spend the first 60 days inside three local gyms instead of three social platforms. What you'll likely make: month 3 $1,200-$2,500, month 6 $3,500-$6,000, month 12 $6,500-$11,000. Math is in Section 4.

Market Opportunity

Your customer is not a person trying to eat better. Your customer is a person who already weighs their oatmeal. They're tracking 180g of protein a day in MyFitnessPal, they've hit a plateau on lean mass, and they need Tuesday lunch handled without breaking their macro split. That's a small population per zip code — and that's why it's defensible. Generic meal prep competes with HelloFresh, Trader Joe's, and the customer's own air fryer. Macro-tracked meal prep competes with maybe one or two local players, if any.

The U.S. meal-kit and prepared-food delivery market hit roughly $22.4 billion in 2023 at ~14% CAGR per Statista's meal-kit market data. National fitness-meal brands like Trifecta Nutrition and Factor charge $105-$159/week for 7-day plans of 12-14 meals, all shipped cold or frozen from one central kitchen. Your wedge is fresh (next-day, never frozen), custom (the local CrossFit coach can tell you "Sarah needs 45g protein, no dairy"), and the trust that comes from an athlete being able to walk into your commissary on a Sunday and see you cook.

One thing to be clear about before you start: you are running a food production business, not a coaching business. You don't need a personal training cert. You need a licensed commercial kitchen, a ServSafe Manager certificate, and an FDA-compliant nutrition facts panel on every container. The macro-tracking sub-population reads labels for a living. A "30g protein" claim that's actually 22g loses a customer base that talks to each other in DMs every day.

Launch With AI

Pro section. Fitness meal prep is a macro-accuracy + commissary-kitchen + gym-partnership business — AI doesn't weigh chicken to the gram, label containers, or stand at a 0.1g scale Sunday morning. But the time you waste hand-typing the gym-partner cold-walk script for the local CrossFit box, drafting the FALCPA + macro-label template, and writing the trainer-referral payout automation is exactly the time you should spend at the kitchen scale. AI does the writing tail. You weigh.

The trap most first-year meal prep operators fall into: they paste their service description into ChatGPT and ship "healthy meals delivered weekly $12/meal." AI confidently writes generic-meal-prep copy — but that customer compares you to HelloFresh + Trader Joe's + their own air fryer + quits in 3 weeks. The macro-tracking sub-population (athletes weighing oatmeal in MyFitnessPal) is small per zip code but defensible + non-price-sensitive. AI is for the writing tail (gym-partner pitch, trainer-referral, FALCPA + macro label, sample-week onboarding, one-phase-only positioning). Every cook decision, every gram weighed, every allergen-protocol call is yours.

Important up-front: AI cannot weigh a cooked portion to 0.1g, judge whether your protein number actually matches, or have the conversation with the head coach about why $14/meal at the gym is the floor. It will also confidently miss the macro-accuracy trap (athletes sample-weigh + a "30g protein" claim that's actually 22g = end of business in 48 hours), the FALCPA top-9 + sesame trap (sesame added Jan 2023), and the cottage-food TCS-exclusion trap (refrigerated meals = NOT cottage food anywhere). You own every cooked weight, every commissary log, every allergen protocol; AI scales the writing around them.

AI Tools You'll Use

Tool	Price	What it does
ChatGPT (free or Plus)	$0-$20/mo	Gym-partner cold-walk, trainer-referral, FALCPA + macro label, onboarding
Canva (free)	$0	Macro-label sticker design, gym-partner sell-sheet, IG before/after meal templates
Cronometer or MacroFactor	$50-$120/yr	Per-recipe macro analysis to gram precision — your label-accuracy backbone
Subbly or Shopify + subscription app	$29-$159/mo	Subscription billing + skip/pause/swap automation built for meal-delivery
Routific	$39-$98/mo	Delivery-route optimization once you cross 15 weekly stops

The Workflow

Local CrossFit / Orangetheory / strength-gym partner cold-walk (ChatGPT + Canva, ~30 min one-time setup). One gym partner = your year-1 customer pipeline. Paste:

"I'm a fitness meal prep operator in [city] with ServSafe Manager, commissary kitchen agreement, $1M GL + product liability, Cronometer recipe database, 0.1g kitchen scale, and 3-week menu rotation locked for cut/build/endurance phases. I want 1 gym-partner deal locked in month 1 + 2-3 by month 6. Build me the cold-walk package: (a) the targeting — every CrossFit box + Orangetheory + powerlifting gym + strength side of commercial gyms within 15 min of my home base, (b) the in-person walk-in pitch I deliver during open-gym hours: 'hi, I'm [name] from [my brand], local fitness meal prep operator. Brought you 20 sample portions of my [phase] meals — every container labeled with macros to 0.1g via Cronometer, $14-$15/meal blended price, ServSafe + commissary + $1M GL on file. I'd love to be your gym's official meal prep partner — 10% member discount in exchange for posted endorsement + I pay your trainers $25-$50 per signed referral. Want a 15-min chat with the head coach this week?,' (c) the leave-behind 1-pager (Canva: macro label sample with weighed-cooked grams, ServSafe + commissary letter, $1M GL COI, 3-week menu sample for cut/build/endurance, my gym-partner deal terms — 10% member discount + $25-50 trainer payout per signed client + free 1-week trial for the head coach), (d) the head-coach 15-min meeting agenda (sample meals + macro accuracy demo on the 0.1g scale + member-discount details + posted-endorsement template), (e) the post-deal launch text to gym members ('hi [my brand] + [gym name] partnership launches today — first 10 members who sign get 50% off week 1, full menu at [link]'), (f) the absolute don'ts: NEVER quote per-meal below $13 at gym partner rate (you bleed margin once commissary + label + ingredients counted), NEVER skip the macro-accuracy demo on the 0.1g scale (it's the entire conversion event with athletes), NEVER promise weight-loss claims (false advertising trap). Tone: confident pro + athlete-fluent + macro-disciplined. Output paste-ready cold-walk + 1-pager + head-coach meeting agenda."

One gym partner = 10-15 first subscribers month 1 + 25-40 by month 6 = your $3-6K/month base.
Per-recipe macro lock + per-portion 0.1g weighed verification (ChatGPT + Cronometer, ~20 min one-time setup). Macro accuracy = your reputation. Paste:

"I'm a fitness meal prep operator using Cronometer for recipe database. Build me the per-recipe macro lock + per-portion 0.1g verification protocol: (a) the per-recipe build in Cronometer — exact gram weight every ingredient (chicken raw weight + cooking yield, rice raw weight + cooking yield), per-batch cook + per-batch portion count, per-portion macros calculated (calories, protein, carb, fat, fiber, sodium), (b) the per-portion 0.1g weighed verification — every cooked portion weighed on 0.1g scale before container seal, target weight ± 5g tolerance, deviation logged + container re-portioned if outside, (c) the per-supplier-swap recipe re-verify — chicken brand swap, rice brand swap, oil brand swap = re-run Cronometer + re-weigh sample portion before next prep, (d) the per-week macro audit — pull 5 random containers + weigh + verify against label, post results in private gym-partner Slack/SMS for transparency, (e) the absolute don'ts: NEVER eyeball portion weights ('looks about 6oz' = 22g protein on a 30g protein label = career-ender), NEVER skip the per-supplier re-verify (chicken brand swap = ±15% protein-per-100g variance), NEVER label a portion that hasn't been weighed (false-advertising trap + FTC). Tone: confident pro + macro-disciplined + 0.1g-disciplined. Output paste-ready Cronometer protocol + per-portion verification log + per-supplier re-verify trigger."

One macro mismatch = your business in 48 hours. Per-portion 0.1g weighed = your $0 reputation shield.
FALCPA + macro label sticker per container (ChatGPT + Canva, ~15 min one-time setup). Label = required + your liability shield. Paste:

"I'm a fitness meal prep operator. Build me the per-container label sticker (Canva 2x3 white) that satisfies FALCPA top-9 + macro disclosure + commercial-kitchen requirements: (a) the meal name + phase tag (CUT / BUILD / ENDURANCE), (b) the per-container macros (CALORIES [X] / PROTEIN [X]g / CARB [X]g / FAT [X]g / FIBER [X]g / SODIUM [X]mg), (c) the FALCPA top-9 allergen line (Contains: MILK / EGG / WHEAT / SOY / TREE NUT / PEANUT / FISH / SHELLFISH / SESAME — list only what's actually in this meal), (d) the cross-contact disclosure (Made in a commercial kitchen that processes [list of allergens you handle on shared equipment]), (e) the cook + best-by dates (cooked [date] / best by [date 4-5 days out]), (f) the heating instruction (Microwave 90 seconds covered — do not exceed 165°F internal temp), (g) the absolute don'ts: NEVER skip the FALCPA top-9 line including SESAME (added Jan 2023, most recent allergen — easy to miss), NEVER make weight-loss claims on the label (false advertising), NEVER label a portion you haven't weighed on the 0.1g scale (FTC false-advertising trap), NEVER skip the cross-contact disclosure for shared commissary kitchen (one allergic-reaction lawsuit = end of business). Tone: clear + FALCPA-disciplined + macro-disciplined. Output paste-ready Canva sticker template."

One FALCPA + macro-accurate label = your $50-500K-saving liability + reputation shield.
Trainer-referral payout automation (Subbly + ChatGPT, ~15 min one-time setup). Trainers = warmest leads. Paste:

"I'm a fitness meal prep operator with [N] active subscribers. Build me the trainer-referral payout automation: (a) the per-trainer signup — my gym-partner trainers get a Subbly referral code (e.g. 'COACH-MIKE') with $25-$50 per first signup + $10/month recurring while their referral stays subscribed, (b) the per-signup confirmation text to the trainer ('hi [coach name], your referral [first name] just subscribed using your code COACH-[NAME]. $50 added to your Friday Zelle payout. Total this month: $X'), (c) the per-month trainer payout SMS ('hi [coach name], November payout: 4 new signups × $50 = $200 + $X recurring on prior referrals = $Y total. Friday Zelle'), (d) the per-quarter trainer-leaderboard email to all gym partners ('this quarter's top referring trainers: [coach 1, X signups, $Y earned] / [coach 2, X signups, $Y earned] / [coach 3, X signups, $Y earned]'), (e) the per-trainer testimonial collection ('hi [coach name], your client [first name] hit their cut goal — would you record a 30-sec testimonial about how my meals fit the cut phase? $100 credit to your account'), (f) the absolute don'ts: NEVER skimp on the payout (trainers stop referring), NEVER skip the per-signup thank-you text (trainers stop trusting the math), NEVER pay a trainer for an already-paying customer's friend (gaming the system). Tone: warm pro + athlete + coach-fluent. Output paste-ready Subbly payout automation + trainer SMS templates."

5-10 active trainer referrers × 1-3 signups/month each × $50 = $250-$1,500/month of zero-CAC pipeline.
One-phase-only positioning + 1-week sample onboarding (Subbly + ChatGPT, ~20 min one-time setup). Narrow > broad. Paste:

"I'm a fitness meal prep operator. Build me the one-phase-only launch positioning + 1-week sample onboarding: (a) the launch positioning (pick ONE phase month 1) — 'CUT phase only: 8-12 meals/week, 350-450 cal, 35-45g protein per meal, $14/meal blended. Built for athletes 8 weeks out from a photo shoot, powerlifting meet, or wedding. Available for pickup at [gym partner location] or local delivery within 5 miles,' (b) the per-new-subscriber 1-week sample onboarding email — 'hi [first name], welcome to [my brand]. Your first week: 8 meals × $14 = $112 charged via Subbly. Pickup [gym partner] Sunday 4-6pm or local delivery Sunday 5-8pm. 3 things to know: (1) macros are weighed to 0.1g per portion via Cronometer + verified per batch, (2) skip/pause/swap any time via your Subbly portal, (3) reply with any allergen concerns + I'll re-portion at next prep. See you Sunday,' (c) the per-Sunday delivery confirmation text ('hi [first name], your week of [phase] meals are ready — pickup or delivery [time]. Reply Y to confirm or change'), (d) the per-week-2 retention SMS ('hi [first name], how was week 1? Reply S for skip next week, F for full menu, or any feedback'), (e) the absolute don'ts: NEVER launch with all 3 phases (kills your prep efficiency + macro accuracy), NEVER skip the gym-partner-pickup option (lower fulfillment cost), NEVER add a 4th phase before phase 1 has 25+ active subscribers. Tone: warm pro + athlete-fluent. Output paste-ready 1-week sample onboarding + Sunday confirmation + week-2 retention."

One-phase-only at 25+ subscribers = $3.5K/month + 80%+ retention before adding phase 2.

Time Saved Per Week

Roughly 3-4 hours/week once your gym pitch + Cronometer protocol + FALCPA label are built:

Gym-partner cold-walk: 1-time setup → reused per gym
Per-recipe macro lock + 0.1g verification: 1-time setup → reused per prep
FALCPA + macro label sticker: 1-time setup → reused on every container
Trainer-referral payout automation: 1-time setup → fires automatically
One-phase-only onboarding: 1-time setup → reused per new subscriber

Trade that time for: 1 more gym-partner cold-walk per week, the next 5 trainer signups, and the next per-supplier macro re-verify.

Total AI Stack Cost

Budget tier ($79/mo): Subbly basic ($29) + Cronometer ($50/yr ÷ 12 = $4) + ChatGPT free + Canva free + Square free.
Full tier ($147/mo): Add Routific ($39) + ChatGPT Plus ($20) + Subbly mid-tier upgrade. Worth it the day you cross 15 active subscribers.
Compare: A part-time admin for trainer payouts + per-prep macro audits + delivery routing runs $600-$1,000/month. Full AI stack is one-fifth that cost.

Cancel anything you don't open in a 7-day window. Skip Instagram + TikTok ads in year one — gym-partner + trainer-referral out-converts any paid social for fitness meal prep.

Your First Win

30 minutes from now your gym-partner cold-walk script is laminated + your first 5 gyms are mapped + your FALCPA + macro label is designed in Canva. Open ChatGPT (free tier works). Paste:

"I'm a fitness meal prep operator in [my city] with: ServSafe Food Manager cert, commissary kitchen agreement at $25-$35/hr, $1M GL + product liability, Cronometer recipe database, 0.1g Escali kitchen scale, vacuum sealer + insulated bag inventory, Subbly billing. The single biggest year-1 leverage is one local gym-partner deal — one CrossFit box + 1-2 trainers referring + 10-15 first subscribers = my $3-6K/month base. Build me the 1-page laminated gym-partner cold-walk script + the first-5-gym map: (a) the targeting — pull every CrossFit box + Orangetheory + powerlifting gym + strength side of commercial gyms (Anytime Fitness / Planet Fitness HIIT / LA Fitness olympic-platform area) within 15 min of [my home base zip], rank by member count + specialty (powerlifting + olympic strength = highest macro-tracking density), (b) the in-person walk-in pitch I deliver during open-gym hours (typically 4-6pm or Saturday 8-10am) with 20 sample portions in branded containers — 'hi, I'm [name] from [my brand], local fitness meal prep operator. Brought you 20 sample portions of my [CUT phase] meals — every container labeled with macros to 0.1g via Cronometer, $14-$15/meal blended price, ServSafe + commissary + $1M GL on file. I'd love to be your gym's official meal prep partner — 10% member discount in exchange for posted endorsement + I pay your trainers $25-$50 per signed referral + $10/month recurring while their referral stays subscribed. Want a 15-min chat with the head coach this week?,' (c) the 1-page leave-behind (macro label sample with weighed-cooked grams, ServSafe + commissary letter, $1M GL COI, 3-week menu sample for cut/build/endurance, gym-partner deal terms — 10% member discount + trainer payout + free 1-week trial for the head coach + free 1-week trial for top-3 powerlifting/competing athletes), (d) the head-coach 15-min meeting agenda — sample meals on table + macro accuracy demo on 0.1g scale (weigh a chicken portion live + show Cronometer match) + member-discount details + posted-endorsement template + 1-week trial signup, (e) the post-deal launch text to gym members ('hi [my brand] + [gym name] partnership launches today — first 10 members who sign get 50% off week 1, full menu at [link]'), (f) the absolute don'ts: NEVER quote per-meal below $13 at gym partner rate (you bleed margin), NEVER skip the macro-accuracy demo on 0.1g scale (it's the entire conversion event with athletes), NEVER promise weight-loss claims on label or in conversation (false advertising trap + FTC), NEVER eyeball portion weights ('looks about 6oz' = 22g protein on 30g protein label = career-ender — athletes sample-weigh + scrutinize), NEVER cook at home for paid customers (TCS food = NOT cottage food anywhere — health-department complaint = $500-$5K-per-incident + end of business), NEVER skip the per-supplier macro re-verify (chicken brand swap = ±15% protein-per-100g variance), NEVER skip the FALCPA top-9 line including SESAME (added Jan 2023 — most recent allergen, easy to miss). Tone: confident pro + athlete-fluent + macro-disciplined + commissary-disciplined + FALCPA-disciplined. Output paste-ready as a 1-page laminated gym-partner cold-walk script + a Tuesday route map for 5 gyms within 15 min of [my home base zip]."

Print + laminate Sunday. Walk 5 gyms with 20 sample portions Tuesday. 1 in 3 head-coach conversations = 1 gym partner = 10-15 first subscribers + the trainer-referral pipeline.

Product / Service Offering

Lock one format on day one, two if you must, never three. The macro-customer rewards consistency and punishes drift.

Cut/lean phase. 6-12 meals/week, 350-450 calories, 35-45g protein, lower carb. $13-$15/meal. Buyer is 8 weeks out from a photo shoot, powerlifting meet, or a wedding. Highest churn but highest urgency.

Build/bulk phase. 8-14 meals/week, 600-800 calories, 45-55g protein, deliberate carb load. $14-$17/meal. Buyer is hard-gainers and offseason strength athletes. Lower churn — muscle building is a 6-month commitment.

Performance/endurance. 10-12 meals/week, 500-650 calories, balanced macros, real carb sourcing (jasmine rice, sweet potato, oats — not pasta). $13-$16/meal. Buyer is runners, cyclists, triathletes. They eat a lot and don't switch brands often.

Build a 3-week menu rotation with 8-10 dishes per phase. Print macros + calories + ingredients + the 9 FDA major allergens on every label — milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soy, and sesame (added January 1, 2023 by the FASTER Act per FDA's allergen guidance). Use Cronometer or MacroFactor to nail real macros per recipe before printing a single label. Eyeballing a "30g protein" claim is how you get an FTC false-advertising letter.

Revenue Model

The unit economics that decide whether this works:

Line	Per 10-meal order
Price to client	$140 ($14/meal blended)
Food cost (higher protein cost vs. general meal prep)	$50-$60
Containers + macro label + insulated bag	$8-$13
Commissary kitchen (allocated)	$15-$25 — commissary rentals run $15-$35/hour in mid-size cities, $25-$50/hour in NYC/SF per The Kitchen Door listings
Gross margin per order	$42-$67

Your first $1K month = ~7-8 active weekly subscribers averaging $140/week. Roughly 70-80 macro-portioned meals from one 6-hour Sunday. Every one of those clients walks in through a gym door, not a TikTok feed.

Your first $3K month = ~22 weekly subscribers, or 18 weekly + a small bulk order to one CrossFit box's coach roster. You're prepping 8-10 hours a Sunday, kitchen rental hits $300-$500/month, and you're netting $1,500-$2,200 after food, packaging, and kitchen. The decision point at month 6 is whether to add a $20/hour Sunday prep helper to push toward $7K-$10K, or stay solo and cap quality.

Startup Costs

Real range at the $5K-$15K tier:

LLC + EIN + business bank account: $50-$500 (LLC fee varies by state — see LLC University 50-state table; EIN is free at IRS EIN Online, never pay a third party)
ServSafe Food Manager certification: $38-$125 depending on path — ServSafe Manager
Commissary kitchen first month (deposit + first month at $25-$35/hour, 4-6 Sunday hours/week): $500-$1,400
General liability + product liability insurance, first 3 months prepaid: $150-$500 — quote at Hiscox or Next Insurance
Initial container, label, and insulated-bag inventory (300-500 units): $250-$700
Kitchen scale (0.1g precision), thermometer, vacuum sealer, sheet pans, half hotel pans, transport coolers with ice packs: $500-$1,100
Cronometer or MacroFactor subscription for recipe macro analysis: $50-$120/year
Subscription billing platform — Shopify ($39/month) + a subscription app, or Subbly ($29-$159/month) which is meal-delivery-native: $30-$160/month
Routific delivery route optimization once you cross 15 stops: $39-$98/month
First 60 days of food cost float (higher protein = higher float): $800-$2,000
Branding, simple Shopify site with macro filter, recipe photography: $300-$1,500

You can land at $5,000 with a county commissary, a basic Shopify build, and food float covered by your first 8 testers' prepayments. You'll land near $15,000 in a metro area with $40+/hour commissary rates, professional food photography, and a paid 3-month gym partnership.

Legal & Formation

Business entity. Set up an LLC, not a sole prop. You're producing food for athletes who track every gram and sometimes have documented allergies — one mislabeled container or one cross-contamination incident at the commissary and a sole prop puts your house on the line. LLC fees range $35-$500 by state per LLC University. The EIN is free at IRS EIN Online — never pay a third party. Open a business checking account on day one. Mixing personal and business money is the fastest way to lose your liability shield.

Licenses & food safety. Four pieces, in this order. First, a ServSafe Food Manager certificate before any commissary will hand you keys ($38-$125 at ServSafe). Second, a county health permit, usually issued through the commissary's existing license. Third, FDA Food Facility Registration if you ship across state lines (free at FDA Food Facility Registration, renewed in even years). Fourth, sales tax registration with your state revenue department — prepared food is taxable in nearly every state. Do not try to qualify under your state cottage food law. Cottage food laws cap most sellers at $50,000 in annual revenue and exclude refrigerated, ready-to-eat foods almost everywhere — see the Cottage Food Laws state guide. Cooking out of an unlicensed home kitchen and calling it commercial can run $500-$5,000+ per incident and shut you down on the spot.

Industry-specific risk. Two traps end fitness meal prep brands. The first is inaccurate macro claims. If your label says "30g protein per serving" and a customer's sent-out sample says 22g, that's actionable as false advertising under FTC rules and a chargeback storm in a community where everyone screenshots into the same Discord. Build every recipe in Cronometer or MacroFactor by exact gram weight, weigh every cooked portion on a 0.1g scale, re-verify any time you swap a supplier or chicken brand. The second trap is allergen cross-contamination in a shared commissary. The 9 FDA major allergens (per 21 USC §343(w) as amended by FASTER Act) must be declared on every label. The shared sheet pan that held shrimp during the renter before you can put a shellfish-allergic customer in the ER. Carry product liability insurance, document allergen restrictions in writing on every client intake, and tape a written allergen SOP to your prep station.

Marketing & First Customers

Your first 30 clients come from inside one or two local gyms — not from Instagram. The fitness meal prep market is too narrow for top-of-funnel content to do the work. Walk into your CrossFit box, your Orangetheory, your local powerlifting gym, or the strength side of your commercial gym with 20 sample portions in branded containers, macro labels printed on each. Ask the head coach for 15 minutes on a Saturday. Offer a free week of meals for a posted endorsement, or pay any personal trainer $25-$50 per new referred client. Trainer referrals are the warmest lead source in this niche.

The gym partner deal is the real win. One local gym making you their "official meal prep partner" — in exchange for, say, a 10% member discount — drops your customer-acquisition cost near zero for 90 days. National competitors like Trifecta can't run that play locally because they ship from one warehouse. You can.

Instagram and TikTok matter as a trust layer, not a discovery layer. Post the macro breakdown of every meal. Show your kitchen scale and the cooked weight. Show the commissary on Sunday with the health-permit sticker visible. Athletes don't trust food brands; they trust other athletes who eat the food, so reshare every transformation post you can get consent for.

If you do paid trainer endorsements, FTC 16 CFR Part 255 requires #ad disclosure on every post. Don't assume anyone reads the rules.

First 90 Days

Week 1: File the LLC, get the EIN, open business checking. Buy a 0.1g kitchen scale and a digital food thermometer.
Week 1-2: Take and pass the ServSafe Food Manager exam ($38-$125, online, ~6-8 hours of study). Tour 3 commissaries in your area; pick one based on hourly rate, Sunday availability, and refrigerated storage included.
Week 2-3: Buy general + product liability insurance ($150-$500 for first 3 months at $1M/$2M limits). File for a state sales tax permit. Sign the commissary membership agreement.
Week 3-4: Build a 3-week menu rotation (8-10 dishes per phase). Run every recipe through Cronometer or MacroFactor and lock the macros per gram. Print sample labels.
Week 4: Walk into 3 local gyms with sample portions. Ask each head coach for 15 minutes. Sign 1 gym partnership by end of week.
Week 5-6: Recruit 5-8 paying testers from the gym partner at 30% off week one. Run one full prep session as a dry run before public launch — time yourself, weigh every portion, calculate true food cost.
Week 7-9: Open public ordering inside the partner gym. Target 10-15 weekly subscribers by end of week 9. First $1K month should land here.
Week 10-13: Push to 22+ subscribers. Recruit 2-3 personal trainers into the $25-$50 referral program. Reassess: stay solo or hire a $20/hour Sunday prep helper.

Common Pitfalls

Cooking at home and "scaling later." TCS (time/temperature-control-for-safety) prepared meals are excluded from cottage food law in nearly every state per cottagefoodlaws.com. Selling out of your home kitchen is a $500-$5,000-per-incident violation that ends the business. Fix: budget the commissary cost from week 1 and price it into every meal at $14-$15.
Macro labels that don't match the food. Athletes will sample-weigh your meals against your labels. A 30g protein claim that's 22g on their scale is the end of your reputation in that gym in 48 hours. Fix: build every recipe in Cronometer or MacroFactor, weigh every cooked portion on a 0.1g scale, and re-verify any time you change brands of chicken or rice.
Selling to "anyone who wants to eat healthy." That customer compares you to HelloFresh and quits in 3 weeks. Fix: pick one phase (cut, build, or endurance), target one or two local gyms, and ignore everyone else for 90 days. Narrow wins this market.
No documented allergen SOP at the commissary. Shared sheet pans and shared wax-paper between renters are the cross-contamination event waiting to happen. A peanut-allergic customer with documented allergy on intake who reacts has a strong product-liability case. Fix: dedicated color-coded prep gear, a written allergen-prevention SOP taped to your station, and product liability insurance from day one.

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